Testicular and epididymal sperm reserves of crossbred European boars raised and maintained in the humid tropics

Abstract

The testicular and epididymal sperm reserves of 32 adult crossbred European boars (mean age 17.4 months, range 15--21 months) raised and maintained in Ibadan, Nigeria were 43.77 x 10(9) and 207.20 x 10(9) cells respectively, and were correlated (P less than 0.01) with age and organ weight. The distribution of spermatozoa in the epididymis was 16, 6 and 78% in the caput, corpus and cauda epididymidis respectively. The testicular and epididymal sperm reserves were correlated (P less than 0.05), suggesting that sperm production and storage are associated. All the values studied were comparable with those reported for boars kept in temperate climates.